Group-common downlink control information (dci) indicating coverage enhancement

ABSTRACT

A method of wireless communication by a UE (user equipment) includes receiving group-common downlink control information (DCI) indicating coverage-enhancements including channel state information (CSI) report settings for a group of UEs and/or PDCCH repetition. The method also includes reporting CSI in accordance with the coverage-enhanced CSI report settings, which may include report repetition. A method of wireless communication by a base station includes transmitting group-common downlink control information (DCI) indicating coverage-enhanced channel state information (CSI) report settings and/or PDCCH repetition for a group of UEs. The method also includes receiving CSI reports from the group of UEs in accordance with the group-common DCI.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 63/015,395, filed on Apr. 24, 2020, and titled“GROUP-COMMON DOWNLINK CONTROL INFORMATION (DCI) INDICATING CHANNELSTATE INFORMATION (CSI) REPORT COVERAGE ENHANCEMENT,” and U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 63/015,361, filed on Apr. 24, 2020,and titled “GROUP-COMMON DCI INDICATING PDCCH MONITORING AGGREGATION,”the disclosures of which are expressly incorporated by reference intheir entireties.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wirelesscommunications, and more particularly to techniques and apparatuses forgroup-common downlink control information (DCI) for indicating channelstate information (CSI) report coverage enhancement or physical downlinkcontrol channel (PDCCH) monitoring aggregation.

BACKGROUND

Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide varioustelecommunications services such as telephony, video, data, messaging,and broadcasts. Typical wireless communications systems may employmultiple-access technologies capable of supporting communications withmultiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth,transmit power, and/or the like). Examples of such multiple-accesstechnologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, timedivision multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency-division multipleaccess (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency-division multiple access(OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency-division multiple access(SC-FDMA) systems, time division synchronous code division multipleaccess (TD-SCDMA) systems, and long term evolution (LTE).LTE/LTE-Advanced is a set of enhancements to the universal mobiletelecommunications system (UMTS) mobile standard promulgated by theThird Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).

A wireless communications network may include a number of base stations(BSs) that can support communications for a number of user equipment(UEs). A user equipment (UE) may communicate with a base station (BS)via the downlink and uplink. The downlink (or forward link) refers tothe communications link from the BS to the UE, and the uplink (orreverse link) refers to the communications link from the UE to the BS.As will be described in more detail, a BS may be referred to as a NodeB, a gNB, an access point (AP), a radio head, a transmit and receivepoint (TRP), a New Radio (NR) BS, a 5G Node B, and/or the like.

The above multiple access technologies have been adopted in varioustelecommunications standards to provide a common protocol that enablesdifferent user equipment to communicate on a municipal, national,regional, and even global level. New radio (NR), which may also bereferred to as 5G, is a set of enhancements to the LTE mobile standardpromulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). NR isdesigned to better support mobile broadband Internet access by improvingspectral efficiency, lowering costs, improving services, making use ofnew spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards usingorthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with a cyclic prefix(CP) (CP-OFDM) on the downlink (DL), using CP-OFDM and/or SC-FDM (e.g.,also known as discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM)) onthe uplink (UL), as well as supporting beamforming, multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, and carrier aggregation.

Wireless communication between a user equipment (UE) and a base stationmay benefit from beamforming. Beam reliability may be necessary toensure that adequate coverage is provided for unicast channels betweenthe UE and the base station, such as in Frequency Range 2 (FR2). Forexample, beam reliability may suffer for a variety of reasons, such as anarrow beam becoming weak or suffering from partial shadowing.Improvements are presented to address beam reliability issues for theUE. These improvements may also be applicable to other multi-accesstechnologies and the telecommunication standards that employ thesetechnologies.

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a method of wirelesscommunication by a UE (user equipment) includes receiving group-commondownlink control information (DCI) indicating coverage-enhanced channelstate information (CSI) report settings for a group of UEs. The methodalso includes reporting CSI in accordance with the coverage-enhanced CSIreport settings.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a method ofwireless communication by a base station includes transmittinggroup-common downlink control information (DCI) indicatingcoverage-enhanced channel state information (CSI) report settings for agroup of UEs. The method also includes receiving CSI reports from thegroup of UEs in accordance with the group-common DCI.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a method ofwireless communication at a user equipment (UE) includes receivinggroup-common downlink control information (DCI). The DCI includes anindication for a coverage-enhanced procedure for a group of one or moreUEs including the UE for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)monitoring. The method also includes determining whether to monitor fora PDCCH according to the coverage-enhanced procedure based on theindication.

According to still other aspects of the present disclosure, a method ofwireless communication at a base station includes transmitting agroup-common downlink control information (DCI). The DCI includes anindication for a coverage-enhanced procedure for a group of one or moreuser equipment (UEs) for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)monitoring. The method also includes transmitting one or morerepetitions of a PDCCH based on the coverage-enhanced procedure overmultiple monitoring occasions.

Aspects generally include a method, apparatus, system, computer programproduct, non-transitory computer-readable medium, user equipment, basestation, wireless communication device, and processing system assubstantially described with reference to and as illustrated by theaccompanying drawings and specification.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technicaladvantages of examples according to the disclosure in order that thedetailed description that follows may be better understood. Additionalfeatures and advantages will be described hereinafter. The conceptionand specific examples disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis formodifying or designing other structures for carrying out the samepurposes of the present disclosure. Such equivalent constructions do notdepart from the scope of the appended claims. Characteristics of theconcepts disclosed, both their organization and method of operation,together with associated advantages will be better understood from thefollowing description when considered in connection with theaccompanying figures. Each of the figures is provided for the purposesof illustration and description, and not as a definition of the limitsof the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail,a particular description may be had by reference to aspects, some ofwhich are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted,however, that the appended drawings illustrate only certain aspects ofthis disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of itsscope, for the description may admit to other equally effective aspects.The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the sameor similar elements.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communicationssystem and an access network, in accordance with various aspects of thepresent disclosure.

FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C, and 2D are diagrams illustrating examples of a first5G/NR frame, DL channels within a 5G/NR subframe, a second 5G/NR frame,and UL channels within a 5G/NR subframe, respectively.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a base station and userequipment (UE) in an access network.

FIG. 4 shows a diagram illustrating an example of beamforming between abase station and a UE in an access network, in accordance with variousaspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 shows a diagram illustrating example aggregated sets ofmonitoring occasions that are non-overlapping, in accordance withvarious aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 shows a diagram illustrating example aggregated sets ofmonitoring occasions that are overlapping, in accordance with variousaspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a call flow diagram for a base station and a group of UEs thatsupports a coverage-enhanced procedure for physical downlink controlchannel (PDCCH) monitoring, in accordance with various aspects of thepresent disclosure.

FIGS. 8A and 8B show flowcharts illustrating example methods performedby a UE that support a coverage-enhanced procedure for PDCCH monitoring,in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 shows a flowchart illustrating an example method performed by abase station that support a coverage-enhanced procedure for PDCCHmonitoring, in accordance with various aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example ofgroup-common downlink control information (DCI) for channel stateinformation (CSI) report enhancement, in accordance with various aspectsof the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 is a call flow diagram showing a process for enabling anddisabling channel state information (CSI) report coverage enhancement,according to aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process performed, forexample, by a UE (user equipment), in accordance with various aspects ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process performed, forexample, by a base station, in accordance with various aspects of thepresent disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various aspects of the disclosure are described more fully below withreference to the accompanying drawings. This disclosure may, however, beembodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limitedto any specific structure or function presented throughout thisdisclosure. Rather, these aspects are provided so that this disclosurewill be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of thedisclosure to those skilled in the art. Based on the teachings oneskilled in the art should appreciate that the scope of the disclosure isintended to cover any aspect of the disclosure, whether implementedindependently of or combined with any other aspect of the disclosure.For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may bepracticed using any number of the aspects set forth. In addition, thescope of the disclosure is intended to cover such an apparatus ormethod, which is practiced using other structure, functionality, orstructure and functionality in addition to or other than the variousaspects of the disclosure set forth. It should be understood that anyaspect of the disclosure disclosed may be embodied by one or moreelements of a claim.

It should be noted that while aspects may be described using terminologycommonly associated with 5G and later wireless technologies, aspects ofthe present disclosure can be applied in other generation-basedcommunications systems, such as and including 3G and/or 4G technologies.

Wireless communication between a user equipment (UE) and a base stationmay involve beamforming. Beam reliability may be necessary to ensurethat adequate coverage is provided for unicast channels between the UEand the base station, such as in Frequency Range 2 (FR2). For example,beam reliability may suffer for a variety of reasons such as a narrowbeam becoming weak or suffering from partial shadowing. In addition, itis also important for the base station to obtain reliable channel stateinformation (CSI) feedback from the UE so that the base station canprovide new beam assignments to ensure that the UE can properly connectto the base station. Conditions that affect one UE, such as a narrowcast beam becoming weak or suffering from partial shadowing, may affecta group of UEs that share the same, or a related, refined beam. UEs thatare associated with different refined beams of a wider beam may alsosuffer similar kinds of beam-related problems. For example, a passingbus may result in attenuation or blockage for a group of UEs that areassociated with different refined beams in correlated time spans.

A base station may transmit repetitions of a physical downlink controlchannel (PDCCH) in an aggregated set of multiple monitoring occasions toalleviate beam reliability issues and to aid the UE in successfullyreceiving the PDCCH. Each aggregated set of monitoring occasions may beallocated with one or more control channel elements (CCE) and anaggregation level may indicate the number of CCEs allocated. Thetransmission of repetitions of the PDCCH in the aggregated set ofmonitoring occasions may be referred to as an “enhanced-coverage PDCCH”procedure. However, the added repetitions of the PDCCH over multiplemonitoring occasions may consume additional resources and may not benecessary or useful for UEs experiencing good coverage. Therefore,aspects presented provide for efficient signaling to enable PDCCHcoverage enhancement, for example, utilizing repetitions of PDCCH overaggregated sets of monitoring occasions, for a group of UEs that may besuffering from weak or worsening beams.

Various implementations relate generally to a coverage-enhancedprocedure for PDCCH monitoring. In some aspects, a base stationtransmits multiple repetitions of a PDCCH in multiple monitoringoccasions and the UE monitors for each of the multiple repetitions. Insome examples, the base station transmits an indication regarding thecoverage-enhanced procedure in group-common downlink control information(DCI). In some examples, the base station preconfigures acoverage-enhanced procedure for PDCCH monitoring such that it maydynamically indicate to a group of UEs to activate, deactivate, orcontinue the coverage-enhanced procedure through group-common DCI.Responsive to receiving the group-common DCI, a UE may determine whetherto monitor for a PDCCH according to the coverage-enhanced procedurebased on the indication in the group-common DCI. In someimplementations, the indication in the group-common DCI indicates thecoverage-enhanced procedure is to be used for all configured searchspaces for the UE. In some other implementations, the indication in thegroup-common DCI indicates the coverage-enhanced procedure is to be usedfor a subset of search spaces for the UE.

Other aspects of the present disclosure relate to coverage enhancementof a channel state information (CSI) report for a group of UEs thatsuffer from a weak or worsening beam. The signaling for the coverageenhancement incurs little overhead. According to the present disclosure,group-common downlink control information (DCI) may indicatecoverage-enhanced CSI report settings for a group of UEs. In oneexample, the coverage-enhanced CSI report settings indicate a repetitionof CSI reports.

Particular implementations of the subject matter described in thisdisclosure can be implemented to realize one or more of the followingpotential advantages. In some implementations, the described techniquescan be used to enable a coverage-enhanced procedure with UEs to ensureUEs that suffer from beam-related problems will have appropriatecoverage without excessive signaling overhead.

Several aspects of telecommunication systems will now be presented withreference to various apparatuses and methods. These apparatuses andmethods will be described in the following detailed description andillustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, components,circuits, processes, algorithms, among other examples (collectivelyreferred to as “elements”). These elements may be implemented usingelectronic hardware, computer software, or any combination thereof.Whether such elements are implemented as hardware or software dependsupon the particular application and design constraints imposed on theoverall system.

By way of example, an element, or any portion of an element, or anycombination of elements may be implemented as a “processing system” thatincludes one or more processors. Examples of processors includemicroprocessors, microcontrollers, graphics processing units (GPUs),central processing units (CPUs), application processors, digital signalprocessors (DSPs), reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors,systems on a chip (SoC), baseband processors, field programmable gatearrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), state machines, gatedlogic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardwareconfigured to perform the various functionality described throughoutthis disclosure. One or more processors in the processing system mayexecute software. Software shall be construed broadly to meaninstructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code,programs, subprograms, software components, applications, softwareapplications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects,executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, among otherexamples, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware,microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.

In one or more examples, the functions described may be implemented inhardware, software, or any combination thereof. If implemented insoftware, the functions may be stored on or encoded as one or moreinstructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readablemedia includes computer storage media. Storage media may be anyavailable media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example,and not limitation, such computer-readable media can include arandom-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an electricallyerasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), optical disk storage, magnetic diskstorage, other magnetic storage devices, combinations of theaforementioned types of computer-readable media, or any other mediumthat can be used to store computer executable code in the form ofinstructions or data structures that can be accessed by a computer.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communicationssystem and an access network 100. The wireless communications system 100(also referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) includes basestations 102, UEs 104, an evolved packet core (EPC) 160, and anothercore network 190 (e.g., a 5G core (5GC)). The base stations 102 mayinclude macrocells (e.g., high power cellular base stations) or smallcells (e.g., low power cellular base stations, including femtocells,picocells, and microcells).

The base stations 102 configured for 4G LTE (collectively referred to asevolved universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) terrestrialradio access network (E-UTRAN)) may interface with the EPC 160 throughfirst backhaul links 132 (e.g., an S1 interface). The base stations 102configured for 5G NR (collectively referred to as next generation RAN(NG-RAN)) may interface with core network 190 through second backhaullinks 184. In addition to other functions, the base stations 102 mayperform one or more of the following functions: transfer of user data,radio channel ciphering and deciphering, integrity protection, headercompression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dualconnectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection setupand release, load balancing, distribution for non-access stratum (NAS)messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, radio access network(RAN) sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriberand equipment trace, RAN information management (RIM), paging,positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations 102 maycommunicate directly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPC 160 or corenetwork 190) with each other over third backhaul links 134 (e.g., X2interface). The third backhaul links 134 may be wired or wireless.

The base stations 102 may wirelessly communicate with the UEs 104. Eachof the base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for arespective geographic coverage area 110. There may be overlappinggeographic coverage areas 110. For example, a small cell 102 a may havea coverage area 110 a that overlaps the coverage area 110 of one or moremacro base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell andmacrocells may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneousnetwork may also include home evolved Node Bs (eNBs) (HeNBs), which mayprovide service to a restricted group known as a closed subscriber group(CSG). Communication links 120 between the base stations 102 and the UEs104 may include uplink (UL) (also referred to as reverse link)transmissions from a UE 104 to a base station 102 or downlink (DL) (alsoreferred to as forward link) transmissions from a base station 102 to aUE 104. The communication links 120 may use multiple-input andmultiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatialmultiplexing, beamforming, or transmit diversity. The communicationlinks 120 may be through one or more carriers. The base stations 102/UEs104 may use spectrum up to Y MHz (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400 MHz,among other examples) bandwidth per carrier allocated in a carrieraggregation of up to a total of Yx MHz (x component carriers) used fortransmission in each direction. The carriers may or may not be adjacentto each other. Allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect toDL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL than forUL). The component carriers may include a primary component carrier andone or more secondary component carriers. A primary component carriermay be referred to as a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary componentcarrier may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell).

Some UEs 104 may communicate with each other using a device-to-device(D2D) communication link 158. The D2D communication link 158 may use theDL/UL WWAN spectrum. The D2D communication link 158 may use one or moresidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel(PSBCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), a physicalsidelink shared channel (PSSCH), and a physical sidelink control channel(PSCCH). D2D communication may be through a variety of wireless D2Dcommunications systems, such as for example, FlashLinQ, WiMedia,Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, LTE, or NR.

The wireless communications system 100 may further include a Wi-Fiaccess point (AP) 150 in communication with Wi-Fi stations (STAs) 152via communication links 154 in a 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum.When communicating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the STAs 152/AP150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) prior to communicatingin order to determine whether the channel is available.

The small cell 102 a may operate in a licensed or an unlicensedfrequency spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum,the small cell 102 a may employ NR and use the same 5 GHz unlicensedfrequency spectrum as used by the Wi-Fi AP 150. The small cell 102 a,employing NR in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, may boost coverage toor increase capacity of the access network.

A base station 102, whether a small cell 102 a or a large cell (e.g.,macro base station), may include or be referred to as an eNB, gNodeB(gNB), or another type of base station. Some base stations, such as agNB 180, may operate in a traditional sub-6 GHz spectrum, in millimeterwave (mmW) frequencies, or near mmW frequencies in communication withthe UE 104. When the gNB 180 operates in mmW or near mmW frequencies,the gNB 180 may be referred to as an mmW base station. Extremely highfrequency (EHF) is part of the radio frequency (RF) in theelectromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and awavelength between 1 millimeter and 10 millimeters. Radio waves in theband may be referred to as a millimeter wave. Near mmW may extend downto a frequency of 3 GHz with a wavelength of 100 millimeters. The superhigh frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, alsoreferred to as centimeter wave. Communications using the mmW/near mmWradio frequency band (e.g., 3 GHz-300 GHz) have extremely high path lossand a short range. The mmW base station 180 may utilize beamforming 182with the UE 104 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and shortrange. The base station 180 and the UE 104 may each include a pluralityof antennas, such as antenna elements, antenna panels, or antenna arraysto facilitate the beamforming.

The base station 180 may transmit a beamformed signal to the UE 104 inone or more transmit directions 182 a. The UE 104 may receive thebeamformed signal from the base station 180 in one or more receivedirections 182 b. The UE 104 may also transmit a beamformed signal tothe base station 180 in one or more transmit directions 182 a. The basestation 180 may receive the beamformed signal from the UE 104 in one ormore receive directions 182 b. The base station 180/UE 104 may performbeam training to determine the best receive and transmit directions 182b, 182 a for each of the base station 180/UE 104. The transmit andreceive directions 182 a, 182 b for the base station 180 may or may notbe the same. The transmit and receive directions 182 a, 182 b for the UE104 may or may not be the same.

The EPC 160 may include a mobility management entity (MME) 162, otherMMES 164, a serving gateway 166, a multimedia broadcast multicastservice (MBMS) gateway 168, a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC)170, and a packet data network (PDN) gateway 172. The MME 162 may be incommunication with a home subscriber server (HSS) 174. The MME 162 isthe control node that processes the signaling between the UEs 104 andthe EPC 160. Generally, the MME 162 provides bearer and connectionmanagement. All user Internet protocol (IP) packets are transferredthrough the serving gateway 166, which itself is connected to the PDNgateway 172. The PDN gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation aswell as other functions. The PDN gateway 172 and the BM-SC 170 areconnected to IP services 176. The IP services 176 may include theInternet, an intranet, an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), a PS streamingservice, or other IP services. The BM-SC 170 may provide functions forMBMS user service provisioning and delivery. The BM-SC 170 may serve asan entry point for content provider MBMS transmission, may be used toauthorize and initiate MBMS Bearer Services within a public land mobilenetwork (PLMN), and may be used to schedule MBMS transmissions. The MBMSgateway 168 may be used to distribute MBMS traffic to the base stations102 belonging to a multicast broadcast single frequency network (MBSFN)area broadcasting a particular service, and may be responsible forsession management (start/stop) and for collecting eMBMS relatedcharging information.

The core network 190 may include an access and mobility managementfunction (AMF) 192, other AMFs 193, a session management function (SMF)194, and a user plane function (UPF) 195. The AMF 192 may be incommunication with a unified data management (UDM) 196. The AMF 192 isthe control node that processes the signaling between the UEs 104 andthe core network 190. Generally, the AMF 192 provides quality of service(QoS) flow and session management. All user Internet protocol (IP)packets are transferred through the UPF 195. The UPF 195 provides UE IPaddress allocation as well as other functions. The UPF 195 is connectedto IP services 197. The IP services 197 may include the Internet, anintranet, an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), a PS streaming service, orother IP services.

The base station 102 may include or be referred to as a gNB, Node B,eNB, an access point, a base transceiver station, a radio base station,a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS),an extended service set (ESS), a transmit and receive point (TRP), orsome other suitable terminology. The base station 102 provides an accesspoint to the EPC 160 or core network 190 for a UE 104. Examples of UEs104 include a cellular phone, a smart phone, a session initiationprotocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a personal digital assistant (PDA), asatellite radio, a global positioning system, a multimedia device, avideo device, a digital audio player (e.g., MP3 player), a camera, agame console, a tablet, a smart device, a wearable device, a vehicle, anelectric meter, a gas pump, a large or small kitchen appliance, ahealthcare device, an implant, a sensor/actuator, a display, or anyother similar functioning device. Some of the UEs 104 may be referred toas Internet of things (IoT) devices (e.g., parking meter, gas pump,toaster, vehicle, heart monitor, among other examples). The UE 104 mayalso be referred to as a station, a mobile station, a subscriberstation, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remoteunit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communicationsdevice, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, an accessterminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, ahandset, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitableterminology.

Referring again to FIG. 1, in some aspects, the UE 104 may include acoverage enhancement component 140. The coverage enhancement component140 may be configured to receive a group-common DCI from the basestation 102/180 including an indication for a coverage-enhanced PDCCHmonitoring procedure for a group of one or more UEs including the UE104. The coverage enhancement component 140 may be configured todetermine whether to monitor for a PDCCH according to thecoverage-enhanced procedure based on the indication.

In some aspects, one or more base stations 102/180 may include a groupDCI component 198 configured to transmit a group-common DCI including anindication for a coverage-enhanced procedure for PDCCH monitoring formultiple UEs. The indication may indicate to the group of UEs to startmonitoring for the PDCCH based on the coverage-enhanced procedure, tostop monitoring for the PDCCH based on the coverage-enhanced procedure,or to continue monitoring for the PDCCH based on the coverage-enhancedprocedure. The base station 102/180 may be configured to transmit one ormore repetitions of a PDCCH over multiple monitoring occasions based onthe coverage-enhanced procedure.

Although the description may be focused on 5G NR, the concepts describedherein may be applicable to other similar areas, such as LTE, LTE-A,CDMA, GSM, and other later wireless technologies.

FIG. 2A is a diagram 200 illustrating an example of a first subframewithin a 5G/NR frame structure. FIG. 2B is a diagram 230 illustrating anexample of DL channels within a 5G/NR subframe. FIG. 2C is a diagram 250illustrating an example of a second subframe within a 5G/NR framestructure. FIG. 2D is a diagram 280 illustrating an example of ULchannels within a 5G/NR subframe. The 5G/NR frame structure may befrequency division duplex (FDD) in which for a particular set ofsubcarriers (carrier system bandwidth), subframes within the set ofsubcarriers are dedicated for either DL or UL, or may be time divisionduplex (TDD) in which for a particular set of subcarriers (e.g., carriersystem bandwidth), subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicatedfor both DL and UL. In the examples provided by FIGS. 2A and 2C, the5G/NR frame structure is assumed to be TDD, with subframe 4 beingconfigured with slot format 28 (with mostly DL), where D is DL, U is UL,and X is flexible for use between DL/UL, and subframe 3 being configuredwith slot format 34 (with mostly UL). While subframes 3, 4 are shownwith slot formats 34, 28, respectively, any particular subframe may beconfigured with any of the various available slot formats 0-61. Slotformats 0, 1 are all DL, UL, respectively. Other slot formats 2-61include a mix of DL, UL, and flexible symbols. UEs are configured withthe slot format (dynamically through DL control information (DCI), orsemi-statically/statically through radio resource control (RRC)signaling) through a received slot format indicator (SFI). Note that thedescription presented herein applies also to a 5G/NR frame structurethat is TDD.

Other wireless communication technologies may have a different framestructure or different channels. A frame (10 ms) may be divided into 10equally sized subframes (1 ms). Each subframe may include one or moretime slots. Subframes may also include mini-slots, which may include 7,4, or 2 symbols. Each slot may include 7 or 14 symbols, depending on theslot configuration. For slot configuration 0, each slot may include 14symbols, and for slot configuration 1, each slot may include 7 symbols.The symbols on DL may be cyclic prefix (CP) OFDM (CP-OFDM) symbols. Thesymbols on UL may be CP-OFDM symbols (for high throughput scenarios) ordiscrete Fourier transform (DFT) spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbols (alsoreferred to as single carrier frequency-division multiple access(SC-FDMA) symbols) (for power limited scenarios; limited to a singlestream transmission). The number of slots within a subframe is based onthe slot configuration and the numerology. For slot configuration 0,different numerologies μ 0 to 5 allow for 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 slots,respectively, per subframe. For slot configuration 1, differentnumerologies 0 to 2 allow for 2, 4, and 8 slots, respectively, persubframe. For slot configuration 0 and numerology μ, there are 14symbols/slot and 2μ slots/subframe. The subcarrier spacing and symbollength/duration are a function of the numerology. The subcarrier spacingmay be equal to 2^(μ)*15 kHz, where μ is the numerology 0 to 5. As such,the numerology μ=0 has a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz and the numerologyμ=5 has a subcarrier spacing of 480 kHz. The symbol length/duration isinversely related to the subcarrier spacing. FIGS. 2A-2D provide anexample of slot configuration 0 with 14 symbols per slot and numerologyμ=0 with 1 slot per subframe. The subcarrier spacing is 15 kHz andsymbol duration is approximately 66.7 μs.

A resource grid may be used to represent the frame structure. Each timeslot includes a resource block (RB) (also referred to as physical RBs(PRBs)) that extends 12 consecutive subcarriers. The resource grid isdivided into multiple resource elements (REs). The number of bitscarried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

As illustrated in FIG. 2A, some of the REs carry reference (pilot)signals (RS) for the UE. The RS may include demodulation RS (DM-RS)(indicated as Rx for one particular configuration, where 100x is theport number, but other DM-RS configurations are possible) and channelstate information reference signals (CSI-RS) for channel estimation atthe UE. The RS may also include beam measurement RS (BRS), beamrefinement RS (BRRS), and phase tracking RS (PT-RS).

FIG. 2B illustrates an example of various DL channels within a subframeof a frame. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries DCIwithin one or more CCE, each CCE including nine RE groups (REGs), eachREG including four consecutive REs in an OFDM symbol. A primarysynchronization signal (PSS) may be within symbol 2 of particularsubframes of a frame. The PSS is used by a UE 104 to determinesubframe/symbol timing and a physical layer identity. A secondarysynchronization signal (SSS) may be within symbol 4 of particularsubframes of a frame. The SSS is used by a UE to determine a physicallayer cell identity group number and radio frame timing. Based on thephysical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity groupnumber, the UE can determine a physical cell identifier (PCI). Based onthe PCI, the UE can determine the locations of the aforementioned DM-RS.The physical broadcast channel (PBCH), which carries a masterinformation block (MIB), may be logically grouped with the PSS and SSSto form a synchronization signal (SS)/PBCH block. The MIB provides anumber of RBs in the system bandwidth and a system frame number (SFN).The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data,broadcast system information not transmitted through the PBCH such assystem information blocks (SIBs), and paging messages.

As illustrated in FIG. 2C, some of the REs carry DM-RS (indicated as Rfor one particular configuration, but other DM-RS configurations arepossible) for channel estimation at the base station. The UE maytransmit DM-RS for the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and DM-RSfor the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The PUSCH DM-RS may betransmitted in the first one or two symbols of the PUSCH. The PUCCHDM-RS may be transmitted in different configurations depending onwhether short or long PUCCHs are transmitted and depending on theparticular PUCCH format used. Although not shown, the UE may transmitsounding reference signals (SRS). The SRS may be used by a base stationfor channel quality estimation to enable frequency-dependent schedulingon the UL.

FIG. 2D illustrates an example of various UL channels within a subframeof a frame. The PUCCH may be located as indicated in one configuration.The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as schedulingrequests, a channel quality indicator (CQI), a precoding matrixindicator (PMI), a rank indicator (RI), and hybrid automatic repeatrequest (HARQ) acknowledgment/negative acknowledgment (ACK/NACK)feedback. The PUSCH carries data, and may additionally be used to carrya buffer status report (BSR), a power headroom report (PHR), or UCI.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a base station 310 in communication with aUE 350 in an access network. In the DL, IP packets from the EPC 160 maybe provided to a controller/processor 375. The controller/processor 375implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality. Layer 3 includes a radioresource control (RRC) layer, and layer 2 includes a service dataadaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, a packet data convergence protocol(PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a medium accesscontrol (MAC) layer. The controller/processor 375 provides RRC layerfunctionality associated with broadcasting of system information (suchas MIB, SIBs), RRC connection control (such as RRC connection paging,RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRCconnection release), inter radio access technology (RAT) mobility, andmeasurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layerfunctionality associated with header compression/decompression, security(ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification),and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated withthe transfer of upper layer packet data units (PDUs), error correctionthrough ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC servicedata units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering ofRLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mappingbetween logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MACSDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs,scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ,priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

A transmit (TX) processor 316 and a receive (RX) processor 370 implementlayer 1 functionality associated with various signal processingfunctions. Layer 1, which includes a physical (PHY) layer, may includeerror detection on the transport channels, forward error correction(FEC) coding/decoding of the transport channels, interleaving, ratematching, mapping onto physical channels, modulation/demodulation ofphysical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. The TX processor 316handles mapping to signal constellations based on various modulationschemes (such as binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quadraturephase-shift keying (QPSK), M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadratureamplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may thenbe split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to anOFDM subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (such as a pilot)in the time or frequency domain, and then combined together using aninverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channelcarrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM stream is spatiallyprecoded to produce multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from achannel estimator 374 may be used to determine the coding and modulationscheme, as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimate may bederived from a reference signal or channel condition feedbacktransmitted by the UE 350. Each spatial stream may then be provided to adifferent antenna 320 via a separate transmitter 318TX. Each transmitter318TX may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream fortransmission.

At the UE 350, each receiver 354RX receives a signal through itsrespective antenna 352. Each receiver 354RX recovers informationmodulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to a receive(RX) processor 356. A transmit (TX) processor 368 and the RX processor356 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signalprocessing functions. The RX processor 356 may perform spatialprocessing on the information to recover any spatial streams destinedfor the UE 350. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 350,they may be combined by the RX processor 356 into a single OFDM symbolstream. The RX processor 356 then converts the OFDM symbol stream fromthe time-domain to the frequency domain using a fast Fourier transform(FFT). The frequency domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbolstream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on eachsubcarrier, and the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated bydetermining the most likely signal constellation points transmitted bythe base station 310. These soft decisions may be based on channelestimates computed by a channel estimator 358. The soft decisions arethen decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signalsthat were originally transmitted by the base station 310 on the physicalchannel. The data and control signals are then provided to acontroller/processor 359, which implements layer 3 and layer 2functionality.

The controller/processor 359 can be associated with a memory 360 thatstores program codes and data. The memory 360 may be referred to as acomputer-readable medium. In the UL, the controller/processor 359provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packetreassembly, deciphering, header decompression, and control signalprocessing to recover IP packets from the EPC 160. Thecontroller/processor 359 is also responsible for error detection usingan ACK or NACK protocol to support HARQ operations.

Similar to the functionality described in connection with the DLtransmission by the base station 310, the controller/processor 359provides RRC layer functionality associated with system information(e.g., MIB, SIBS) acquisition, RRC connections, and measurementreporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with headercompression/decompression, and security (ciphering, deciphering,integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionalityassociated with the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correctionthrough ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs,re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; andMAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channelsand transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto TBs,demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting,error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channelprioritization.

Channel estimates derived by the channel estimator 358 from a referencesignal or feedback transmitted by the base station 310 may be used bythe TX processor 368 to select the appropriate coding and modulationschemes, and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streamsgenerated by the TX processor 368 may be provided to different antenna352 via separate transmitters 354TX. Each transmitter 354TX may modulatean RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

The UL transmission is processed at the base station 310 in a mannersimilar to that described in connection with the receiver function atthe UE 350. Each receiver 318RX receives a signal through its respectiveantenna 320. Each receiver 318RX recovers information modulated onto anRF carrier and provides the information to a RX processor 370.

The controller/processor 375 can be associated with a memory 376 thatstores program codes and data. The memory 376 may be referred to as acomputer-readable medium. In the UL, the controller/processor 375provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packetreassembly, deciphering, header decompression, control signal processingto recover IP packets from the UE 350. IP packets from thecontroller/processor 375 may be provided to the EPC 160. Thecontroller/processor 375 is also responsible for error detection usingan ACK or NACK protocol to support HARQ operations.

At least one of the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and thecontroller/processor 359 may be configured to perform aspects inconnection with the coverage enhancement component 140 of FIG. 1.

At least one of the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and thecontroller/processor 375 may be configured to perform aspects inconnection with the group DCI component 198 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 shows a diagram illustrating an example of beamforming 400between a base station 402 and a UE 404 in an access network, inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. Asillustrated in FIG. 4, the base station 402 may transmit signals to theUE 404 in each of multiple directions using respective transmit beams402 a, 402 b, 402 c, 402 d, 402 e, 402 f, 402 g, 402 h. The UE 404 mayreceive signals from the base station 402 using different receive beams404 a, 404 b, 404 c, 404 d. The UE 404 may also transmit a signal to thebase station 402 in one or more of the directions using different beams404 a-404 d. The base station 402 may receive the signal from the UE 404in one or more of the receive directions using the one or more beams 402a-402 h. The base station 402 and UE 404 may perform beam training todetermine the best receive and transmit directions for each of the basestation 402 and UE 404. The transmit and receive directions for the basestation 402 may or may not be the same. The transmit and receivedirections for the UE 404 may or may not be the same. The base station402 may use the same beam, or related beams, to transmit communicationto multiple UEs 404. The base station 402 may use a different beam toexchange communication with a UE 406, for example. The base station 402may provide reference signals to the UE 404 so that the UE may performfurther refined selection of the beam pairs 402 a/404 a, 402 c/404 c,402 d/404 d based on measurements performed on those signals.

Under some conditions, PDCCH messages may not be received correctly,which may delay or prevent the UE 404 from receiving the controlinformation in the PDCCH and exchanging other communications includingdata (e.g., via a PDSCH) with the base station 402. For example, beamreliability may suffer for a variety of reasons, such as a narrow beambecoming weak or suffering from partial shadowing. The base station 402may use channel state information (CSI) feedback from the UEs 404 or 406to determine if current beam assignments are reliable and to ensure thatthe UEs 404 can properly receive communications from the base station402. Conditions that affect one UE 404, such as a narrow beam becomingweak or suffering from partial shadowing, may affect some or all otherUEs in a group of UEs 404 that share the same refined beam or a relatedrefined beam. Beam refinement may include the use of one or more widerbeams to select a narrower beam for communication. For example, the UEs404 that are associated with different refined beams of a wider beam mayalso suffer similar types of beam-related problems. For example, apassing vehicle or other mobile structure may cause interference,attenuation, or blockage for a group of UEs 404 associated withdifferent refined beams in correlated time spans.

The base station may alleviate issues with beam reliability bytransmitting a PDCCH using an enhanced procedure that involvestransmitting multiple repetitions of the PDCCH over an aggregated set ofmultiple monitoring occasions. The enhanced PDCCH procedure is alsoreferred to as a “coverage-enhanced” PDCCH procedure or an “enhanced”PDCCH procedure. However, the added repetitions for the PDCCH mayconsume additional resources and may not be necessary or useful for UEsthat are experiencing good coverage. Aspects presented enable the basestation to balance the efficient use of resources with improving beamreliability, and to do so with minimal signaling to the UEs.

The base station 402 may include a group DCI component 198, such asdescribed in connection with FIG. 1. The group DCI component 198generates an indication regarding a coverage-enhanced procedure forPDCCH monitoring that the base station 402 then transmits to a group ofUEs 404 in group-common DCI. The UEs 404 may each include a coverageenhancement component 140, such as described in connection with FIG. 1,which enables the UE to determine an action to take regarding PDCCHmonitoring according to a coverage-enhanced PDCCH monitoring procedure.

The base station 402 may determine to transmit the group-common DCI thatindicates a preconfigured coverage-enhanced procedure for PDCCHmonitoring based on one or more of: channel state information (CSI)received from at least one UE 404 in the group of UEs 404, a qualitymeasurement for at least one UE 404 in the group of UEs 404, or hybridautomatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback from at least one UE 404 in thegroup of UEs 404. For example, the base station 402 may have previouslyreceived channel state information, quality measurements, or HARQfeedback from another UE 404 and determine to transmit the group-commonDCI to the UE 404 based on this previously received information,measurements or feedback. The base station 402 may indicate thecoverage-enhanced PDCCH procedure for all or a subset of search spacesof the group of UEs 404. Additionally, the base station 402 mayconfigure whether to activate coverage-enhance PDCCH proceduresseparately for each search space. For example, the base station 402 mayconfigure the coverage-enhanced PDCCH monitoring procedure to includeone or more of an aggregation level or a size for PDCCH monitoring, atime window, a repetition pattern for the PDCCH, etc.

Under the preconfigured coverage-enhanced procedure for PDCCHmonitoring, the base station 402 may transmit an initial transmission ofa PDCCH and may repeat the PDCCH transmission as one or more repetitionsso that the same PDCCH is repeated over two or more PDCCH monitoringoccasions. The two or more PDCCH monitoring occasions may be groupedtogether as an aggregated set of monitoring occasions. The same PDCCHmay be repeated over PDCCH candidates in multiple monitoring occasions,for example, in the same search space and with the same PDCCH candidateindex. In an implementation, the base station 402 may repeat the PDCCHtransmission using different refined beams. In some examples, thedifferent refined beams may each be a sub-beam of a beam correspondingto a transmission of the PDCCH. A sub-beam may refer to a lower levelbeam in a hierarchical set of beams. For example, a layer 1 (L1) beammay cover multiple L2 beams, which may each cover multiple L3 beams. Inan implementation, the beam corresponding to a transmission of the PDCCHis an L2 beam and each of the different refined beams may be an L3 beam.

Each aggregated set of monitoring occasions may include k consecutivePDCCH monitoring occasions that correspond to the same search space. Insome examples, each monitoring occasion may belong to a singleaggregated set of monitoring occasions. For example, the aggregated setof monitoring occasions may be associated with an index n and mayinclude monitoring occasions {4n, 4n+1, 4n+2, 4n+3}. In this example,for the aggregated set of monitoring occasions for n=0, the monitoringoccasions include {0, 1, 2, 3}. For the aggregated set of monitoringoccasions for n=1, the monitoring occasions include {4, 5, 6, 7}. Forthe aggregated set of monitoring occasions for n=2, the monitoringoccasions include {8, 9, 10, 11}. Thus, each of the individualmonitoring occasions belongs to only a single aggregated set ofmonitoring occasions, and the monitoring occasions in differentaggregated sets of monitoring occasions do not overlap. In some otherexamples, a single monitoring occasion may belong to multiple aggregatedsets of monitoring occasions. For example, the aggregated set ofmonitoring occasions may be associated with an index n and may includemonitoring occasions {n, n+1, n+2, n+3}. In this example, for theaggregated set of monitoring occasions for n=0, the monitoring occasionsinclude {0, 1, 2, 3}. For the aggregated set of monitoring occasions forn=1, the monitoring occasions include {1, 2, 3, 4}. For the aggregatedset of monitoring occasions for n=2, the monitoring occasions include{2, 3, 4, 5}. Thus, monitoring occasion 2 and monitoring occasion 3belong to the aggregated sets of monitoring occasions for n=0, n=1, andn=2. Similarly, monitoring occasion 4 belongs to the aggregated sets ofmonitoring occasions for n=1 and n=2.

FIG. 5 shows a diagram illustrating example aggregated sets ofmonitoring occasions 510 that are non-overlapping, in accordance withvarious aspects of the present disclosure. A first aggregated set ofmonitoring occasions includes the monitoring occasions in slots 520,522, 524, and 526. The base station 402 may transmit the same PDCCH overone or more of the monitoring occasions. For example, the base station402 may transmit the PDCCH on a PDCCH candidate 530 in a core resourceset (CORESET) 540 of slot 520, and may transmit repetitions of the PDCCHin PDCCH candidates 532, 534, and 536 in the CORESET 540 of slots 522,524, and 526. That is, each of the PDCCH candidates 530, 532, 534, and536 may include the same PDCCH. Although four slots are illustrated, theaspects presented may be applied to an aggregated set of any number ofconsecutive monitoring occasions.

A second aggregated set of monitoring occasions includes the monitoringoccasions in slots 527, 528, 529, and 531. The base station 402 maytransmit the same PDCCH over one or more of the multiple monitoringoccasions. For example, the base station 402 may transmit the PDCCH on aPDCCH candidate 537 in a CORESET 540 and may transmit repetitions of thePDCCH in PDCCH candidates 538, 539, and 541 in the CORESET 540 of slots528, 529, and 531. That is, each PDCCH candidate 537, 538, 539, and 541may include the same PDCCH.

FIG. 6 is a another diagram illustrating an example of overlapping ofaggregated sets of monitoring occasions 610, in accordance with variousaspects of the present disclosure. A first aggregated set of monitoringoccasions includes the consecutive monitoring occasions in slots 620,622, 624, and 626 in candidates 630, 632, 634, and 636 of a CORESET 640.A second aggregated set of monitoring occasions includes the consecutivemonitoring occasions in slots 622, 624, 626, and 628 in candidates 632,634, 636, and 638 in the CORESET 640. A third aggregated set ofmonitoring occasions includes the consecutive monitoring occasions inslots 624, 626, 628, and 629 in candidates 634, 636, 638, and 639 of theCORESET 640. As illustrated, individual monitoring occasions may belongto multiple aggregated sets of monitoring occasions. As an example, theaggregated sets of monitoring occasions may be based on {m, m+1, m+2,m+3}, which leads to some monitoring occasions belonging to multiplesets.

FIG. 7 is a call flow diagram 700 for a base station 702 and a group ofUEs (e.g., including at least a UE 704 and a UE 706) that supports thatsupports a coverage-enhanced procedure for PDCCH monitoring, inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. Asillustrated in FIG. 7, the base station 702 transmits a configuration710 for coverage-enhanced procedures for PDCCH monitoring to UE 704 andUE 706. In some examples, the UE 706 may be preconfigured with theconfiguration 710 using a different mechanism. The configuration 710 mayinclude one or more of an aggregation level or a data size associatedwith the associated with an aggregated set of monitoring occasions inwhich the UE 704, 706 is to monitor for the PDCCH. The configuration 710may further include a duration, a repetition pattern, or otherinformation about the aggregated set of monitoring occasions. In someexamples, on the UE side, the coverage-enhanced PDCCH monitoringprocedure may include monitoring for a same PDCCH over multiple PDCCHcandidates in multiple respective monitoring occasions in a same searchspace with a same PDCCH candidate index.

The base station 702 transmits group-common DCI 712 including anindication regarding the coverage-enhanced PDCCH monitoring procedure.In some aspects, the indication in the group-common DCI 712 indicates anactivation, deactivation, or continuation of the coverage-enhancedprocedure for PDCCH monitoring. At blocks 714 and 716, the UEs 704 and706 independently determine whether to monitor for PDCCH according tothe coverage-enhanced procedure based on their respective configurationsand conditions. For example, if the group-common DCI 712 activates orcontinues the coverage-enhanced PDCCH monitoring procedure, the UEs 704and 706 may monitor for the PDCCH based on the coverage-enhancedprocedure and the configuration 710. In some examples, UEs 704 and 706may suffer different degrees of weak or worsening beam reliability andmay determine whether to activate the coverage-enhanced procedure forPDCCH monitoring based on their respective beam reliabilities andconfigurations.

The base station 702 may transmit a coverage-enhanced PDCCH 718 to theUE 704 and a coverage-enhanced PDCCH 719 to the UE 706 includingrepetitions of the same PDCCH over aggregated set of monitoringoccasions based on the configuration 710. Each aggregated set ofmonitoring occasions includes two or more PDCCH monitoring occasions. Insome examples, each aggregated set of monitoring occasions includes kconsecutive PDCCH monitoring occasions corresponding to the same searchspace. In some such examples, each monitoring occasion may belong to asingle aggregated set of monitoring occasions, such as illustrated anddescribed with reference to FIG. 5. In some other examples, a monitoringoccasion may belong to multiple aggregated sets of monitoring occasions,such as illustrated and described with reference to FIG. 6.

In some examples, the base station 702 may transmit group-common DCI 720including an indication of deactivation of a coverage-enhanced procedurefor PDCCH monitoring. Responsive to receiving such a deactivationindication, the UEs 704 and 706 may stop monitoring for the PDCCH basedon the coverage-enhanced procedure in blocks 722 and 724. Additionallyor alternatively, in some examples, the UEs 704 and 706 may stopmonitoring for the PDCCH based on the coverage-enhanced procedure inblocks 722 and 724 after a timer for the coverage-enhanced procedure forPDCCH monitoring expires.

The base station 702 may transmit a second PDCCH 726 without thecoverage-enhanced procedure after deactivating the coverage-enhancedprocedure for PDCCH. The PDCCH 726 may be transmitted without repetitionand the procedure of monitoring the PDCCH 726 may be referred to as a“regular PDCCH monitoring procedure.”

In some other examples, the indication in the group-common DCI 712 mayindicate that the coverage-enhanced PDCCH procedure is possible. Forexample, in response to receiving the group-common DCI 712, the UEs 704and 706 may perform PDCCH blind detection associated with both thecoverage-enhanced procedure and a second procedure (such as anon-coverage-enhanced procedure or a procedure that does not involvetransmitting repetitions of the PDCCH in multiple monitoring occasions).If the UE 704 or 706 surpasses a blind detection limit, the UE may stopone of the blind detection options, such as by dropping the blinddetection for the regular PDCCH procedure. For example, the UE 704 or706 may stop the blind detection of the second PDCCH in response todetermining that a total number of blind decodes or an amount of coveredcontrol channel elements (CCEs) satisfies blind detection limit orthreshold. The threshold or limit may be configured for the UE 704 or706 in the configuration 710.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are flowcharts illustrating example methods 800 and 850of wireless communication for a UE that supports coverage-enhancedprocedures for PDCCH monitoring, in accordance with various aspects ofthe present disclosure. The methods 800 and 850 may be performed by a UEor a component of a UE (such as the UE 104, 350, 404, 704, or 706; aprocessing system, which may include the memory 360 and which may be theentire UE 350 or a component of the UE 350, such as the TX processor368, the RX processor 356, or the controller/processor 359). Optionalaspects are illustrated with a dashed line. The methods 800 and 850illustrated in FIGS. 8A and 8B may be performed by a UE in communicationwith a base station (such as the base station 102, 180, 310, 402, or702). The methods 800 and 850 may allow the UE to monitor for a PDCCHaccording to a coverage-enhanced procedure based on an indication in agroup-common DCI.

As illustrated in block 810 of FIG. 8A, a UE receives group-commondownlink control information (DCI) including an indication for acoverage-enhanced procedure for a group of one or more UEs including theUE for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring. Theindication may indicate the coverage-enhanced PDCCH monitoring procedurefor all of the search spaces for the UE. In another example, theindication may indicate the coverage-enhanced procedure for a subset ofsearch spaces of the UEs. The indication may include any of the aspectsdescribed in connection with FIG. 4 or the group-common DCI 712 in FIG.7, for example.

As illustrated in block 820 of FIG. 8A, the UE determines whether tomonitor for a PDCCH according to the coverage-enhanced procedure basedon the indication. For example, the UE may determine to monitor for thePDCCH according to the coverage-enhanced procedure, as described inconnection with group-common DCI 712 and block 716 in FIG. 7. In someexamples, the UE may determine to stop monitoring for the PDCCHaccording to the coverage-enhanced procedure, as described in connectionwith blocks 722 and 724 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 8B shows an example method 850 that includes blocks 810 and 820 ofFIG. 8A and includes additional optional aspects. For example, asillustrated at block 805, the UE may receive a configuration of thecoverage-enhanced procedure prior to receiving the group-common DCI. Forexample, the configuration may include any of the example aspectsdescribed in connection with the configuration 710 in FIG. 7 or theconfiguration described in connection with FIG. 4.

As illustrated in block 830, if the UE determines, at block 820, tomonitor for a PDCCH according to the coverage-enhanced procedure basedon the indication in the group-common DCI, the UE may activate thecoverage-enhanced procedure for PDCCH monitoring and monitor, at block835, for the PDCCH based on an aggregated sets of monitoring occasions.Each aggregated set of monitoring occasions may include repetition ofthe same PDCCH over two or more PDCCH monitoring occasions. A PDCCH maybe repeated over PDCCH candidates in multiple monitoring occasions, inthe same search space and with the same PDCCH candidate index. Eachaggregated set of monitoring occasions may include k consecutive PDCCHmonitoring occasions corresponding to the same search space. In oneimplementation, each monitoring occasion may belong to one aggregatedset of monitoring occasions. In another implementation, each monitoringoccasion may belong to multiple aggregated sets of monitoring occasions.

If the UE determines, at block 820 not to use the coverage-enhancedprocedure, the UE may monitor for the PDCCH, at block 832, according toa second procedure, such as a non-coverage-enhanced procedure. Thenon-coverage-enhanced procedure may be without repetitions of the PDCCHin multiple monitoring occasions.

As illustrated in block 842, the UE may stop the monitoring for thePDCCH according to the coverage-enhanced procedure based on an elapse ofa preconfigured duration of time. The preconfigured duration of time maybe included in the configuration of the enhanced coverage procedure ofPDCCH monitoring. Alternatively, as illustrated in block 844, the UE maystop the monitoring for the PDCCH according to the coverage-enhancedprocedure in response to the deactivation of the coverage-enhancedprocedure. The deactivation of the coverage-enhanced procedure may beincluded in another group-common DCI transmitted from the base stationto the UE.

In some examples, the configuration that is received at block 805 mayindicate a subset of search spaces for which the coverage-enhancedprocedure can be activated. Then, at block 830, the UE may monitor forthe PDCCH according to the coverage-enhanced procedure for each searchspace of the subset of search spaces based on the group-common DCI.

In some examples, the indication that is received at block 810 mayindicate that the coverage-enhanced procedure is enabled, and inresponse, the UE may perform blind detection, at block 837, of the PDCCHbased on the coverage-enhanced procedure and based on anon-coverage-enhanced procedure. As illustrated at block 807, the UE mayreceive a configuration for a second PDCCH associated with anon-coverage-enhanced procedure for PDCCH monitoring. The UE may stopthe blind detection of at least one of the types of PDCCH, such as atblock 839. For example, the UE may stop the blind detection of thesecond PDCCH in response to determining that a number of blind decodesor an amount of covered control channel elements (CCEs) satisfies athreshold.

The UE may monitor for the one or more repetitions of the PDCCH in asame search space of the multiple PDCCH monitoring occasions accordingto the coverage-enhanced procedure, such as described in connection withany of FIGS. 4-7. The multiple PDCCH monitoring occasions may be part ofan aggregated set of monitoring occasions. Each monitoring occasion ofthe multiple PDCCH monitoring occasions may correspond to a singleaggregated set of monitoring occasion, such as described in connectionwith FIG. 5. A monitoring occasion of the multiple PDCCH monitoringoccasions may be grouped into at least two aggregated sets of monitoringoccasions that overlap, such as described in connection with FIG. 6.

Each block in the aforementioned flowchart of FIG. 8A, FIG. 8B, or theaspects that are performed by the UE in any of FIG. 4 or 7, may beperformed by a component of a UE apparatus that may include one or moreof those components. The components may be one or more hardwarecomponents specifically configured to carry out the statedprocesses/algorithm, implemented by a processor configured to performthe stated processes/algorithm, stored within a computer-readable mediumfor implementation by a processor, or some combination thereof.

In one configuration, the UE may include means for performing any of theaspects of the method described in connection with FIG. 8A or 8B, or theaspects performed by the UE in FIG. 4 or 7. The aforementioned means maybe one or more of the aforementioned components of an apparatus or aprocessing system of such an apparatus configured to perform thefunctions recited by the aforementioned means. The processing system mayinclude a transmission processor, a reception processor, and acontroller/processor. As such, in one configuration, the aforementionedmeans may be memory 360, such as the TX processor 368, the RX processor356, or the controller/processor 359 configured to perform the functionsrecited by the aforementioned means.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method 900 of wirelesscommunication for a base station that supports coverage-enhancedprocedures for PDCCH monitoring in accordance with various aspects ofthe present disclosure. The method 900 may be performed by a basestation or a component of a base station (such as the base station 102,180, 310, 402, 702; a processing system, which may include the memory376 and which may be the entire base station 310 or a component of thebase station 310, such as the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, orthe controller/processor 375). The method 900 illustrated in FIG. 9 maybe performed by a base station in communication with a UE.

As illustrated in block 910 of FIG. 9, the base station may transmit agroup-common DCI including an indication for a coverage-enhancedprocedure for PDCCH monitoring for multiple UEs. The indication mayinclude aspects described in connection with FIG. 4 or the group-commonDCI 712 in FIG. 7. The base station may transmit the group-common DCIincluding the indication based on one or more of: channel stateinformation received from at least one of the multiple UEs, a qualitymeasurement for at least one of the UEs, or HARQ feedback from at leastone of the multiple UEs. In some examples, the indication may indicatethe coverage-enhanced procedure for all search spaces for the multipleUEs. In an implementation, the base station may transmit, prior to thegroup-common DCI, a configuration for multiple search spaces. Theconfiguration may indicate a subset of search spaces for which thecoverage-enhanced procedure can be activated. Then, the indication mayactivate the coverage-enhanced procedure for the indicated subset ofsearch spaces. In another implementation, the base station may transmitthe configuration along with the group-common DCI.

In one implementation, the group-common DCI indicates that thecoverage-enhanced procedure is enabled, for example, and may possibly beused by the base station. The base station may configure the UE tomonitor for a second PDCCH based on a non-coverage-enhanced procedurefor PDCCH monitoring. The indication and the configuration may lead theUE to perform blind detections for both types of PDCCH procedures. Thebase station may configure the UE to stop the blind detection of thesecond PDCCH in response to determining that a number of blind decodesor an amount of CCEs satisfies a threshold.

As illustrated in block 920 of FIG. 9, the base station may transmit oneor more repetitions of a PDCCH based on the coverage-enhanced procedureover multiple monitoring occasions. The one or more repetitions of thePDCCH may be grouped into one or more aggregated sets of monitoringoccasions. A PDCCH may be repeated over PDCCH candidates in multiplemonitoring occasions, in the same search space, and associated with orincluded in the same PDCCH candidate index. Each aggregated set ofmonitoring occasions may include repetition of the same PDCCH over twoor more PDCCH monitoring occasions. A PDCCH may be repeated over PDCCHcandidates in multiple monitoring occasions, in the same search spaceand with the same PDCCH candidate index. Each aggregated set ofmonitoring occasions may include k consecutive PDCCH monitoringoccasions corresponding to the same search space. In one implementation,each monitoring occasion may belong to a single aggregated set ofmonitoring occasions, such as described in connection with FIG. 5. Inanother implementation, each monitoring occasion may belong to multipleoverlapping aggregated set of monitoring occasions, such as described inconnection with FIG. 6.

In one implementation, the base station transmits the one or morerepetitions of the PDCCH based on a same PDCCH candidate index. Inanother implementation, the base station transmits the one or morerepetitions of the PDCCH in a same search space of each of the multiplePDCCH monitoring occasions.

The coverage-enhanced procedure may expire based on an elapse of apreconfigured duration of time and the base station may stoptransmitting one or more repetitions of the PDCCH based on thecoverage-enhanced procedure over multiple monitoring occasions after thecoverage-enhanced procedure expires. The base station may also determinethat the coverage-enhanced procedure is no longer needed based on one ormore of: channel state information received from at least one of themultiple UEs, a quality measurement for at least one of the UEs, or HARQfeedback from at least one of the multiple UEs. Then, the base stationmay transmit an additional group-common DCI deactivating thecoverage-enhanced procedure.

Each block in the aforementioned flowchart of FIG. 9, or the aspectsthat are performed by the base station in any of FIG. 4 or 7, may beperformed by a component of a base station apparatus that may includeone or more of those components. The components may be one or morehardware components specifically configured to carry out the statedprocesses/algorithm, implemented by a processor configured to performthe stated processes/algorithm, stored within a computer-readable mediumfor implementation by a processor, or some combination thereof.

In one configuration, the base station may include means for performingany of the aspects of the method 900 described in connection with FIG.9, or the aspects performed by the base station in FIG. 4 or 7. Theaforementioned means may be one or more of the aforementioned componentsof an apparatus or a processing system of such an apparatus configuredto perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means. Theprocessing system may include a transmission processor, a receptionprocessor, and a controller/processor. As such, in one configuration,the aforementioned means may be memory 376, such as the TX processor316, the RX processor 370, or the controller/processor 375 configured toperform the functions recited by the aforementioned means.

According to additional aspects of the present disclosure, group-commondownlink control information (DCI) may indicate coverage-enhanced CSIreport settings for a group of UEs. In one example, thecoverage-enhanced CSI report settings indicate a repetition of CSIreports. In these additional aspects, the base station 102 may include agroup DCI component 198, such as described in connection with FIG. 1.The group DCI component 198 generates an indication of coverage-enhancedCSI report settings for a group of UEs. The UEs 104 may each include acoverage enhancement component 140, such as described in connection withFIG. 1, which enables the UE to determine an action to take regardingcoverage-enhanced CSI report settings.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example ofgroup-common downlink control information (DCI) for channel stateinformation (CSI) report enhancement, in accordance with various aspectsof the present disclosure. As seen in FIG. 10, a wireless communicationssystem 1000 includes a base station 1002. The base station 1002transmits DCI to a group of UEs (e.g., UE1 1004 a, UE2 1004 b, and UE 31004 c). The DCI indicates coverage-enhanced CSI report settings. FIG.10 is provided merely as an example. Other examples may differ from whatis described with regard to FIG. 10.

In one aspect, the group-common DCI activates the coverage enhancements,but does not provide details on the enhancement. The parameters for theenhancement may be defined separately in a CSI report configuration. Inthis case, each UE within the group may have a different type ofenhancement, depending on their own configuration for CSI. In anotheraspect, the group-common DCI activates the coverage enhancements andalso provides the parameters to the entire group.

In some aspects of the present disclosure, the coverage enhancement isvalid until deactivation by explicit signaling. In other aspects, thecoverage enhancement expires, for example, based on a timer. In stillother aspects, the coverage enhancement is valid until implicitsignaling is received. For example, a beam switch command may triggerthe deactivation. In this case, the deactivation can occur immediatelyafter receiving the beam switch command or at a predefined subsequenttime.

The expiration may be different for different UEs based on aconfiguration of the CSI report. The expiration of coverage enhancementmay also be different for different UEs based on the implicit signalingthat triggers the deactivation. For example, a UE-specific beam changecommand for the UE1 1004 a is sent before a beam switch command for theUE2 1004 b, causing the UE1 1004 a to deactivate the coverage-enhancedreporting before the UE2 1004 b deactivates the coverage enhancement.

In an aspect of the present disclosure, coverage enhancement CSI reportsmay depend on configurations of each CSI report. For example, a UEconfiguration for the CSI reports may include multiple sets ofparameters. A first set of parameters may correspond with legacy CSIreporting. A second set of parameters may be defined for enhancedreporting. Thus, when a UE receives the group-common DCI, the UE reportsCSI in accordance with the second set of parameters. The methods for CSIreport coverage enhancement may be different for each UE in the group,for example, when each UE has a different set of second parameters.

Different types of coverage enhancements of the CSI reports may bedefined. One type of coverage enhancement may include CSI reportrepetition. Another enhancement may be additional (or alternative) timeand/or frequency resources for CSI reporting.

Yet another type of coverage enhancement includes a smaller payload forthe CSI report. For example, a subset of the number of beams may beincluded in a compact version of the layer one (L1) report. A firstcompact report may be designated for beams one and three, whereas asecond compact report may be designated for beams two and four. The twocompact reports replace a single full size report for all four beams.Alternatively, or in addition, a reduced bit resolution may be providedin the compact report (e.g., one bit instead of two bits). The smallerpayload report may be sent with a different periodicity than a full sizereport. For example, a first report for beams one and three may be senthalf as frequently as a legacy report.

FIG. 11 is a call flow diagram showing a process for enabling anddisabling channel state information (CSI) report coverage enhancement,according to aspects of the present disclosure. At time 1, a basestation 1002 transmits a CSI report configuration (CSI Config 1) to afirst UE (UE1) 1004 a. The CSI report configuration may include legacyparameters, as well as enhanced parameters. At time 2, the base station1002 transmits a different CSI report configuration (CSI Config 2) to asecond UE (UE2) 1004 b. The CSI report configuration may include legacyparameters, as well as enhanced parameters. Until the report coverageenhancement is activated, the UEs 1004 a, 1004 b report in accordancewith the legacy parameters.

At time 3, the base station 1002 transmits group-common DCI to both theUE1 1004 a and UE2 1004 b. Thus, the UE1 1004 a and UE2 1004 b will nowreport in accordance with the enhanced parameters. At time 4, the UE11004 a transmits a first CSI report. In this example, the enhancementfor UE1 1004 a (from CSI Config 1) is to repeat reports in the timedomain. Thus, at time 5, the CSI report is again transmitted to the basestation 1002.

At time 6, the UE2 1004 b transmits its CSI report in accordance withthe enhanced parameters from CSI Config 2. In this example, UE2 1004 btransmits with additional frequency resources. Thus, two CSI reports aretransmitted at time 6, with different frequency resources.

At time 7, the base station 1002 transmits a beam switch command to theUE2 1004 b. Subsequently, at time 8, the UE2 1004 b stops reporting inaccordance with the enhanced parameters and resumes reporting inaccordance with the legacy parameters from CSI Config 2.

At time 9, the base station 1002 transmits a beam switch command to theUE1 1004 a. Finally, at time 10, the UE1 1004 a resumes reporting inaccordance with the legacy parameters from the first CSI configuration(CSI Config 1).

FIG. 11 is provided merely as an example. Other examples may differ fromwhat is described with regard to FIG. 11.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process 1200performed, for example, by a UE, in accordance with various aspects ofthe present disclosure. The example process 1200 is an example ofreceiving group-common downlink control information (DCI) indicatingchannel state information (CSI) report coverage enhancement.

As shown in FIG. 12, in some aspects, the process 1200 may includereceiving group-common downlink control information (DCI) indicatingcoverage-enhanced channel state information (CSI) report settings for agroup of user equipments (UEs) (block 1202). For example, the UE (e.g.,using the antenna 352, demodulator 354, receive processor 356,controller/processor 359, and/or memory 360) may receive group-commonDCI.

As shown in FIG. 12, in some aspects, the process 1200 may includereporting CSI in accordance with the coverage-enhanced CSI reportsettings (block 1204) For example, the UE (e.g., using the antenna 352,modulator 354, memory 360, controller/processor 359, and/or transmitprocessor 368) may report the CSI.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process 1300performed, for example, by a base station, in accordance with variousaspects of the present disclosure. The example process 1300 is anexample of transmitting group-common downlink control information (DCI)indicating channel state information (CSI) report coverage enhancement.

As shown in FIG. 13, in some aspects, the process 1300 may includetransmitting group-common downlink control information (DCI) indicatingcoverage-enhanced channel state information (CSI) report settings for agroup of UEs (block 1302). For example, the base station (e.g., usingthe antenna 320, modulator 318, transmit processor 316,controller/processor 375, and/or the memory 376) can transmitgroup-common DCI.

As shown in FIG. 13, in some aspects, the process 1300 may includereceiving CSI reports from the group of UEs in accordance with thegroup-common DCI (block 1304). For example, the base station (e.g.,using the antenna 320, modulator 318, receive processor 370,controller/processor 375, and/or the memory 376) may receive CSIreports.

Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses.

1. A method of wireless communication by a UE (user equipment),comprising:

receiving group-common downlink control information (DCI) indicatingcoverage-enhanced channel state information (CSI) report settings for agroup of UEs; and

reporting CSI in accordance with the coverage-enhanced CSI reportsettings.

2. The method of clause 1, further comprising stopping reporting CSI inaccordance with the coverage-enhanced CSI report settings in response toexpiration of a timer.3. The method of clause 1, further comprising stopping reporting CSI inaccordance with the coverage-enhanced CSI report settings in response toreceiving a deactivation signal.4. The method of clause 1, further comprising stopping reporting CSI inaccordance with the coverage-enhanced CSI report settings in response toreceiving implicit signaling.5. The method of clause 4, in which the implicit signaling comprises abeam switch command.6. The method of any of the preceding clauses, further comprising:

receiving, from a base station, a configuration for CSI reporting; and

determining the coverage-enhanced CSI report settings based on theconfiguration for CSI reporting.

7. The method of any of the clauses 1-5, further comprising determiningthe coverage-enhanced CSI report settings based on content of thegroup-common DCI.8. The method of any of the preceding clauses, further comprisingtransmitting a first CSI report for a first subset of downlink beams anda second CSI report for a different second subset of downlink beams.9. The method of any of the preceding clauses, further comprisingtransmitting the first CSI report with a different periodicity than thesecond CSI report.10. The method of any of the preceding clauses, in which thecoverage-enhanced CSI report settings comprises a number of CSI reportrepetitions.11. A method of wireless communication by a base station, comprising:

transmitting group-common downlink control information (DCI) indicatingcoverage-enhanced channel state information (CSI) report settings for agroup of UEs;

and receiving CSI reports from the group of UEs in accordance with thegroup-common DCI.

12. The method of clause 11, in which coverage-enhanced CSI reportingvaries for different UEs of the group of UEs.13. The method of clause 11 or 12, further comprising transmitting aconfiguration of the CSI reports to each UE of the group of UEs; inwhich expiration of coverage-enhanced CSI reporting varies for differentUEs of the group of UEs in accordance with an expiration configurationof the CSI reports.14. The method of any of the clauses 11-12, in which expiration ofcoverage-enhanced CSI reporting varies for different UEs of the group ofUEs in accordance with implicit signaling or explicit signalingtransmitted from the base station.15. The method of any of the clauses 11-14, in which thecoverage-enhanced CSI report settings indicate CSI report repetition.16. The method of any of the clauses 11-15, in which thecoverage-enhanced CSI report settings indicate additional time and/orfrequency resources for the CSI reports or alternative time and/orfrequency resources for the CSI reports.17. The method of any of the clauses 11-16, in which thecoverage-enhanced CSI report settings indicate a compact payload for theCSI reports, the compact payload comprising a reduced bit resolution ora report for a subset of beams.18. The method of any of the clauses 11-17, further comprising receivinga plurality of split CSI reports at different periodicities.19. The method of any of the clauses 11-18, in which the plurality ofsplit CSI reports are for different subsets of beams.20. A method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE),comprising:

receiving group-common downlink control information (DCI) comprising anindication for a coverage-enhanced procedure for a group of one or moreUEs including the UE for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)monitoring; and

determining whether to monitor for a PDCCH according to thecoverage-enhanced procedure based on the indication.

21. The method of clause 20, further comprising:

receiving, prior to receiving the group-common DCI, a configuration ofthe coverage-enhanced procedure, in which the coverage-enhancedprocedure comprises one or more repetitions of a same PDCCH overmultiple PDCCH monitoring occasions.

22. The method of clause 21, in which the one or more repetitions of thePDCCH is associated with a same PDCCH candidate index.23. The method of any of the clauses 20-22, further comprisingmonitoring for the one or more repetitions of the PDCCH in a same searchspace of the multiple PDCCH monitoring occasions according to thecoverage-enhanced procedure.24. The method of any of the clauses 20-23, in which the multiple PDCCHmonitoring occasions are part of an aggregated set of monitoringoccasions.25. The method of any of the clauses 20-23, in which each monitoringoccasion of the multiple PDCCH monitoring occasions corresponds to asingle aggregated set of monitoring occasions or is grouped into atleast two aggregated sets of monitoring occasions that overlap.26. The method of any of the clauses 20-25, further comprising:

responsive to determining to monitor for a PDCCH according to thecoverage-enhanced procedure based on the indication, activating orcontinuing the coverage-enhanced procedure based on the indication; and

monitoring for the PDCCH according to the coverage-enhanced procedure inresponse to the activating of the coverage-enhanced procedure.

27. The method of any of the clauses 20-26, in which the indication inthe group-common DCI indicates the coverage-enhanced procedure is to beused for all search spaces for the UE.28. The method of any of the clauses 20-26, further comprising:

receiving, prior to receiving the group-common DCI, a configuration fora plurality of search spaces, in which the configuration indicates asubset of search spaces for which the coverage-enhanced procedure can beactivated; and

monitoring for the PDCCH according to the coverage-enhanced procedurefor each search space of the subset of search spaces based on thegroup-common DCI.

29. The method of any of the clauses 20-28, in which the indicationenables the coverage-enhanced procedure and the PDCCH is associated withthe coverage-enhanced procedure, the method further comprising:

-   -   receiving a configuration for a second PDCCH associated with a        non-coverage-enhanced procedure for PDCCH monitoring; and

performing blind detection for the PDCCH and the second PDCCH based onthe coverage-enhanced procedure being enabled.

30. An UE (user equipment) for wireless communication, comprising meansfor performing a method of any of clauses 1-10 or 20-29.31. A base station for wireless communication, comprising means forperforming a method of any of clauses 11-19.32. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing code for wirelesscommunication, the code comprising instructions executable by aprocessor to perform a method of any of clauses 1-29.

The foregoing disclosure provides illustration and description, but isnot intended to be exhaustive or to limit the aspects to the preciseform disclosed. Modifications and variations may be made in light of theabove disclosure or may be acquired from practice of the aspects.

As used, the term “component” is intended to be broadly construed ashardware, firmware, and/or a combination of hardware and software. Asused, a processor is implemented in hardware, firmware, and/or acombination of hardware and software.

Some aspects are described in connection with thresholds. As used,satisfying a threshold may, depending on the context, refer to a valuebeing greater than the threshold, greater than or equal to thethreshold, less than the threshold, less than or equal to the threshold,equal to the threshold, not equal to the threshold, and/or the like.

It will be apparent that systems and/or methods described may beimplemented in different forms of hardware, firmware, and/or acombination of hardware and software. The actual specialized controlhardware or software code used to implement these systems and/or methodsis not limiting of the aspects. Thus, the operation and behavior of thesystems and/or methods were described without reference to specificsoftware code—it being understood that software and hardware can bedesigned to implement the systems and/or methods based, at least inpart, on the description.

Even though particular combinations of features are recited in theclaims and/or disclosed in the specification, these combinations are notintended to limit the disclosure of various aspects. In fact, many ofthese features may be combined in ways not specifically recited in theclaims and/or disclosed in the specification. Although each dependentclaim listed below may directly depend on only one claim, the disclosureof various aspects includes each dependent claim in combination withevery other claim in the claim set. A phrase referring to “at least oneof” a list of items refers to any combination of those items, includingsingle members. As an example, “at least one of: a, b, or c” is intendedto cover a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, and a-b-c, as well as any combinationwith multiples of the same element (e.g., a-a, a-a-a, a-a-b, a-a-c,a-b-b, a-c-c, b-b, b-b-b, b-b-c, c-c, and c-c-c or any other ordering ofa, b, and c).

No element, act, or instruction used should be construed as critical oressential unless explicitly described as such. Also, as used, thearticles “a” and “an” are intended to include one or more items, and maybe used interchangeably with “one or more.” Furthermore, as used, theterms “set” and “group” are intended to include one or more items (e.g.,related items, unrelated items, a combination of related and unrelateditems, and/or the like), and may be used interchangeably with “one ormore.” Where only one item is intended, the phrase “only one” or similarlanguage is used. Also, as used, the terms “has,” “have,” “having,”and/or the like are intended to be open-ended terms. Further, the phrase“based on” is intended to mean “based, at least in part, on” unlessexplicitly stated otherwise.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of wireless communication by a UE (userequipment), comprising: receiving group-common downlink controlinformation (DCI) indicating coverage-enhanced channel state information(CSI) report settings for a group of UEs; and reporting CSI inaccordance with the coverage-enhanced CSI report settings.
 2. The methodof claim 1, further comprising stopping reporting CSI in accordance withthe coverage-enhanced CSI report settings in response to expiration of atimer.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising stopping reportingCSI in accordance with the coverage-enhanced CSI report settings inresponse to receiving a deactivation signal.
 4. The method of claim 1,further comprising stopping reporting CSI in accordance with thecoverage-enhanced CSI report settings in response to receiving implicitsignaling.
 5. The method of claim 4, in which the implicit signalingcomprises a beam switch command.
 6. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving, from a base station, a configuration for CSIreporting; and determining the coverage-enhanced CSI report settingsbased on the configuration for CSI reporting.
 7. The method of claim 1,further comprising determining the coverage-enhanced CSI report settingsbased on content of the group-common DCI.
 8. The method of claim 1,further comprising transmitting a first CSI report for a first subset ofdownlink beams and a second CSI report for a different second subset ofdownlink beams.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprisingtransmitting the first CSI report with a different periodicity than thesecond CSI report.
 10. The method of claim 1, in which thecoverage-enhanced CSI report settings comprises a number of CSI reportrepetitions.
 11. A method of wireless communication by a base station,comprising: transmitting group-common downlink control information (DCI)indicating coverage-enhanced channel state information (CSI) reportsettings for a group of UEs; and receiving CSI reports from the group ofUEs in accordance with the group-common DCI.
 12. The method of claim 11,in which coverage-enhanced CSI reporting varies for different UEs of thegroup of UEs.
 13. The method of claim 11, further comprisingtransmitting a configuration of the CSI reports to each UE of the groupof UEs; in which expiration of coverage-enhanced CSI reporting variesfor different UEs of the group of UEs in accordance with an expirationconfiguration of the CSI reports.
 14. The method of claim 11, in whichexpiration of coverage-enhanced CSI reporting varies for different UEsof the group of UEs in accordance with implicit signaling or explicitsignaling transmitted from the base station.
 15. The method of claim 11,in which the coverage-enhanced CSI report settings indicate CSI reportrepetition.
 16. The method of claim 11, in which the coverage-enhancedCSI report settings indicate additional time and/or frequency resourcesfor the CSI reports or alternative time and/or frequency resources forthe CSI reports.
 17. The method of claim 11, in which thecoverage-enhanced CSI report settings indicate a compact payload for theCSI reports, the compact payload comprising a reduced bit resolution ora report for a subset of beams.
 18. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising receiving a plurality of split CSI reports at differentperiodicities.
 19. The method of claim 18, in which the plurality ofsplit CSI reports are for different subsets of beams.
 20. A method ofwireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: receivinggroup-common downlink control information (DCI) comprising an indicationfor a coverage-enhanced procedure for a group of one or more UEsincluding the UE for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)monitoring; and determining whether to monitor for a PDCCH according tothe coverage-enhanced procedure based on the indication.
 21. The methodof claim 20, further comprising: receiving, prior to receiving thegroup-common DCI, a configuration of the coverage-enhanced procedure, inwhich the coverage-enhanced procedure comprises one or more repetitionsof a same PDCCH over multiple PDCCH monitoring occasions.
 22. The methodof claim 21, in which the one or more repetitions of the PDCCH isassociated with a same PDCCH candidate index.
 23. The method of claim21, further comprising monitoring for the one or more repetitions of thePDCCH in a same search space of the multiple PDCCH monitoring occasionsaccording to the coverage-enhanced procedure.
 24. The method of claim21, in which the multiple PDCCH monitoring occasions are part of anaggregated set of monitoring occasions.
 25. The method of claim 24, inwhich each monitoring occasion of the multiple PDCCH monitoringoccasions corresponds to a single aggregated set of monitoring occasionsor is grouped into at least two aggregated sets of monitoring occasionsthat overlap.
 26. The method of claim 21, further comprising: responsiveto determining to monitor for a PDCCH according to the coverage-enhancedprocedure based on the indication, activating or continuing thecoverage-enhanced procedure based on the indication; and monitoring forthe PDCCH according to the coverage-enhanced procedure in response tothe activating of the coverage-enhanced procedure.
 27. The method ofclaim 20, in which the indication in the group-common DCI indicates thecoverage-enhanced procedure is to be used for all search spaces for theUE.
 28. The method of claim 20, further comprising: receiving, prior toreceiving the group-common DCI, a configuration for a plurality ofsearch spaces, in which the configuration indicates a subset of searchspaces for which the coverage-enhanced procedure can be activated; andmonitoring for the PDCCH according to the coverage-enhanced procedurefor each search space of the subset of search spaces based on thegroup-common DCI.
 29. The method of claim 20, in which the indicationenables the coverage-enhanced procedure and the PDCCH is associated withthe coverage-enhanced procedure, the method further comprising:receiving a configuration for a second PDCCH associated with anon-coverage-enhanced procedure for PDCCH monitoring; and performingblind detection for the PDCCH and the second PDCCH based on thecoverage-enhanced procedure being enabled.
 30. A method of wirelesscommunication at a base station, comprising: transmitting a group-commondownlink control information (DCI) comprising an indication for acoverage-enhanced procedure for a group of one or more user equipment(UEs) for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring; andtransmitting one or more repetitions of a PDCCH based on thecoverage-enhanced procedure over multiple monitoring occasions.